All Galicia Database updated version

Following the update of the GesherGalicia website earlier this year the new All Galicia Database came online this morning.

The first thing I have noticed is the new design which in my personal opinion is much nicer.

below the search fields, you have 4 tabs worth mentioning.

“Home” – this is a what’s new section informing the user of the latest addition to the database.

“Database contents” – this section provides a list of the various information that has been indexed and can be found on the database.

“Acknowledgements” – here you can find the names of those who worked on the various datasets. I must say that seeing this pleased me greatly.

“Instructions” – these are very basic but a nice addition.

The search function

I always want to view the advanced options so here they are:

• Name search – It is not surprising that we get to start with a name search (surname, given name, phonetic search). I don’t think I need to go into this one.
• Locality – I can limit my search to a specific town/village but not to a region
• Advanced options:
  • Category – you can limit your search to a specific type of record – currently these are:
    • Vital records (you may choose the type)
    • Austrian ministries
    • Burials
    • Charity
    • Community
    • Elections
    • Holocaust
    • Landsmanshaften
    • Military
    • Notaries, lawyers
    • Permits
    • Property
    • Censuses/Residents
    • Schools, universities
    • Tax
    • Year/Phone books
  • Period – you can limit the years covered by the search
  • Record Repository – you can limit your search to the location where the documents are held. Personally, I doubt I will use this unless working on an on-location research plan
  • Addition date – this is a WOW for me. It is an excellent feature for those of us constantly researching our families. As more information is added to the database I keep repeating my search and having the option of limiting my results to those added recently is a great help. However, the possibilities given by GesherGalicia are lacking as they only allow filtering as follows:
    • records added “within last month”
    • records added “within last quarter”
    • records added “within last year”
  • keyword – there are a few issues with the use of this research field. In the previous version, I could plug in a family number in this field and get all records that mention this family number. at the moment this does not work – hopefully, this will be corrected soon

A few search options that have been lost

• It is no longer possible to search for house numbers – this function was extremely helpful especially when trying to locate older pre-surname records.
• It is no longer possible to search within a radius of a specific town.

Search Results

Once my search has been conducted it’s time to look at the results.

As you can see you initially get a list of results, but there is more information for each line. Simply click on the + sign to the left of the name to reveal the information.

Index entry

Let’s take a look at one example. This is a marriage record from 1866 Lviv.

It is my opinion that the organization is slightly confusing due to the placement of the information on the page and the record number being placed as they are. These two informative lines should be separated from the rest of the information as they relate to the register rather than to the recorded event.

Below the indexed information you can find the source information, this will initially be hidden but you can view it by clicking on “Show details” (this appears in the same place that “Hide details” appears in the example above).

I will get back to the source details, page number & record number in a later post about how to locate the records.

Record scans

on the right-hand side, there is an icon having to do with record scans. In the example above:

• for the first result, there is no scan available.
• for the second result, there is a scan available on GesherGalicia but it is only available for paid members
• for the third result, the scan is available on another site. clicking on the icon will send you to the relevant site. note that it will not lead you directly to the image you are interested in. I will explain in another post how to find the actual image.

It should be noted that some books are available on FamilySearch yet will appear as though no scan is available on the All Galicia Database. This is in strong contrast to the former All Galicia Database that provided information about the FamilySearch microfilm which includes the scan.

Update your search or maybe a new search

Once the search is reset you can start over with a new search.

Have fun